Recipes – A penny pinched

Category : Recipes

Menu for 3/28/11 – 4/3/11

March 28th 2011 Posted at Cooking, Costco, Menu planning, Recipes
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I had a pretty good week last week. There was only one night when I served leftovers, and the only thing that’s left from last week’s menu is breakfast for dinner, which doesn’t really count. My favorite recipe from last week was the Sirloin Steak with Garlic Butter. Nevermind that I overcooked the steaks and that I used garlic salt instead of garlic powder. In fact, I prefer garlic salt. What can I say? I like to live dangerously. Next time, I’ll know better than to make the full amount of sauce and store it for the following day’s lunch. It’s NOT the same.

Monday
Crispy fish fillets with honey glazed carrots and baked asparagus with balsamic butter sauce

Tuesday
Quinoa and Black Beans (modified because I only have pinto beans)

Wednesday
Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

Thursday
Pasta

Friday
Costco (yes, I eat at the Costco food court after doing all my shopping for the week)

Saturday
Light and Fluffy Spinach Quiche

Sunday
Grilled Salmon with green beans

Please give menu planning a try. It may seem like a chore at first, but it really takes a lot of stress away during the week. Check out the myriad of blogs linked at I’m an Organizing Junkie for more meal inspiration.

Menu for 3/21/11 – 3/27/11

March 21st 2011 Posted at Cooking, Menu planning, Recipes
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Unlike the previous week, I actually managed to stick to my menu this past week. Not a single thing remains unmade. I’m not being very ambitious with the meals planned for this week, but I do have one new recipe planned for Tuesday.

For those of you who clicked on the picture of a strawberry shortcake to get here, I thought you might like to see the larger version. It was every bit as delicious and satisfying as it looks in the picture. On Friday and then again on Sunday.

Monday
Spaghetti and salad

Tuesday
Sirloin Steak with Garlic Butter

Wednesday
Tacos

Thursday
Soup and salad

Friday
Costco

Saturday
Breakfast for dinner or leftovers

Sunday
Pizza and salad

Please give menu planning a try. It may seem like a chore at first, but it really takes a lot of stress away during the week. Check out the myriad of blogs linked at Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more meal inspiration.

Menu for 3/14/11 – 3/20/11

March 14th 2011 Posted at Cooking, Groceries, Menu planning, Recipes
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In spite of my best intentions, two meals from last week were not made, so I’m pushing them to this week’s menu. Here’s what I’ll be making this week. Check out the bazillion blogs linked at Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Monday
Turkey Chili (modified)

Tuesday
Day off from cooking. It looks like I’ll be having some kind of curried cauliflower.

Wednesday
Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

Thursday
St. Patty’s Day! Corned beef brisket and cabbage.

Friday
Eating out

Saturday
Mac and cheese surprise. No, I have no idea what I’ll throw in there yet. Tuna? Peas? Corn?

Sunday
I’m still trying to decide what to make with the 2 packages of imitation crab and lobster I bought this past week. I’ll update when I figure it out.

ETA: I settled on this Crab and Pea Salad recipe, although I would’ve loved to give Faith‘s suggestion a try. Maybe next time.

Dinner 3/8/11

March 9th 2011 Posted at Cooking, Pinching penies, Recipes
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One of the downsides of pinching pennies is that I don’t eat fish nearly as often as I should. I’m trying to do better, but the sales are rare, and my storage space is limited. My absolute favorite recipe for salmon is the Baked Dijon Salmon, but I wanted to try something different this time. This recipe for Salmon with Brown Sugar Glaze was rather similar to my usual stand-by, but it fell a little short in my opinion. To be fair, I did modify it according to the top review, which means that I used honey instead of brown sugar. I think I’ll stick with my usual recipe and keep looking for something different as well.

If you’re like me, make sure you open a window and run your range hood fan. I managed to set off the fire alarm when I opened the oven door, probably because of the honey that had dripped onto the pan and burned. Yes, I’m THAT neighbor.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the recipe costs.

2 salmon fillets, 4 oz each – $1.50
Rice – $0.10
Lettuce – $0.80
Balsamic vinegar – $0.16
Grated parmesan – negligible
Croutons – $0.12

TOTAL: $2.56 for two servings or $1.28 per person.

Menu for 3/7/11 – 3/13/11

March 7th 2011 Posted at Cooking, Recipes
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Here’s what I’ll be making this week. Check out the bazillion blogs linked at Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Monday
Soup, crusty bread, and salad

Tuesday
Salmon with Brown Sugar Glaze

Wednesday
Chicken fried rice

Thursday
Eating out

Friday
Turkey Chili (modified)

Saturday
Breakfast for Dinner

Sunday
Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

Menu for 7/26/10-8/1/10

July 26th 2010 Posted at Cooking, Recipes
4 Comments

This was the culinary highlight of my week: steak salad with lemon garlic vinaigrette. If anyone’s curious, I calculated the cost per serving for this recipe and it’s $1.82. Don’t believe me? See for yourselves.

Salad for 2:
lettuce: $0.30
feta cheese: $0.47
cucumber: $0.125
tomato: $0.31
steak: $1.81
Teriyaki sauce: $0.16
Total: 3.175

Salad dressing for 6:
3Â tablespoonsÂ Â fresh lemon juice: $0.50
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard: negligible
3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper :negligible
3/4 teaspoons sea salt: negligible
3 cloves garlic, finely minced: $0.04
9 tablespoons olive oil : $0.88
Total: $1.42

Cost per serving: $1.82

Other than that, the rest of my food wasn’t very photogenic. I made strawberry pies again, but I’ve already posted photos of those. I wanted to try to take pictures of a single slice, but it ended up looking like a hot mess. A delicious hot mess, but still not something I wanted photographic evidence of.

Here’s what I’ll be making this week. Check out the bajillion blogs linked at Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Monday
I had Fabulous Zucchini Grinders and they were just OK. That may be because I’m not a huge fan of zucchini and I thought the texture was a little odd.

Tuesday
Easy Crock Pot Salsa Chicken

Wednesday
Make Ahead Lunch Wraps (I have a ton left over from last week.)

Thursday
Vanilla Peach Pork Chops

Friday
Spaghetti

Saturday
Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Sunday
Pizza

Menu for 7/12/10-7/18/10

July 12th 2010 Posted at Cooking, Menu planning, Recipes
4 Comments

Last week’s meals turned out great. My favorite was the pasta salad, but that’s because I rarely get to eat mushrooms. I don’t really have a recipe for this because I played it by ear. Basically what I did was boil a package of Wacky Mac and toss it with some sliced mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, and Ranch dressing. Yes, Ranch. It was perfect.

My other new recipe was for Porcupine Meatballs II and they also turned out great. I served them with mashed potatoes and a side salad. I know this sounds like a meal better suited for the winter, but I’m running out of ideas here. In any case, the meatballs were really easy to make, but I already have some thoughts on how to improve this recipe. The first and most logical way would be to use leaner ground beef. I used 80% lean ground beef and there was quite a bit of grease on top of the sauce towards the end of the cooking time. The other solution would be to cook the meatballs without the sauce at first, drain the grease, then add the sauce and finish cooking. I’m leaning towards this solution since I already have more of the same kind of beef in my freezer.

Monday
Pizza. I was going to make last Friday’s BBQ chicken, but it slipped my mind.

Tuesday
Crockpot BBQ chicken with baked potato and salad

Wednesday
Pasta

Thursday
Best tuna casserole

Friday
Mac and Cheddar with Broccoli

Saturday
Scrambled eggs with salsa, sour cream, and Cheddar cheese

Sunday
Leftovers

Visit Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Menu for 7/5/10-7/11/10

July 5th 2010 Posted at Cooking, Menu planning, Recipes
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It goes without saying that I did not adhere to my menu 100%, but such is life. This upcoming week will also be a little light on the cooking for several reasons. 1. I’ll be alone a couple of days. 2. It’s still pretty hot and I love keeping my energy consumption as low as possible. 3. This is my last super-duper busy week.

Monday
Soup

Tuesday
Porcupine Meatballs II with mashed potatoes and salad

Wednesday
Pasta salad with tomatoes and mushrooms

Thursday
Leftovers

Friday
Crockpot BBQ chicken with baked potato and salad

Saturday
Chili dogs and a salad

Sunday
Salmon burgers with mixed veggies andÂ a salad

Visit Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Menu for 6/28/10-7/4/10

June 28th 2010 Posted at Cooking, Recipes
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I’ll keep last week’s recap short and sweet: two recipes weren’t made. Again. The Pinto Beans and Rice in a Crock Pot (Or on Stove Top) were easy and delicious and probably something I willÂ make again as I’m trying to use the crockpot more this summer. My electric bill for last month is outrageous and I want to try to not use the oven at all this week if at all possible. Anyway, it’s late so here’s my menu for the week. Yeah, I know it’s mostly burgers, sandwiches, and pasta, but it’s SO ridiculously hot here and I’m still very busy.

Monday
I was by myself so I had leftovers.

Tuesday
Baja Black Beans, Corn and Rice

Wednesday
Black bean burgers

Thursday
Catherine Annâ€™s Enticing Tuna Salad â€“ the Longmeadow Farm

Friday
Salmon burgers

Saturday
We’re going to an early 4th of July celebration and we’ll have the usual fare for lunch. Dinner will probably be very light, so I’m thinking maybe a salad and some snacks throughout the evening.

Sunday
Pasta and salad

Visit Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.

Menu for 6/14/10-6/20/10

June 14th 2010 Posted at Cooking, Menu planning, Recipes
4 Comments

No matter how carefully I plan my menu, it seems there are always two meals left over to make during the new week. I don’t really mind because it means less work for me trying up to come up with recipe ideas.

Last week’s Caribbean chicken was amazing. The two things I would change would be to season and/or marinade the chicken with the pineapple mixture and to add the sliced banana on top of the plated dish instead of mixing it in. The pineapple and chicken combination was great, but I thought the banana took this dish to the next level. This is definitely a keeper. I’m sorry to say that’s not the case for the Ginger Me Up Chicken, which I found rather flavorless once I excluded the cayenne pepper.

It was just me for dinner on Friday so I had leftovers instead of making the Korean Hamburgers, but I’m really looking forward to having them this week. I’ll also be making last week’s Baked Teriyaki Chicken tonight. I have so many great chicken recipes that this would have to be spectacular to become a keeper. Here’s this week’s menu.

Monday
Baked Teriyaki Chicken

Tuesday
Baja Black Beans, Corn and Rice

Wednesday
Pasta and salad

Thursday
Spicy Garlic Lime Chicken

Friday
Korean Hamburgers

Saturday
Catherine Ann’s Enticing Tuna Salad – the Longmeadow Farm

Sunday
Soup, bread, and salad

Visit Iâ€™m an Organizing Junkie for more inspiration.